Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams

[dateline] Boston August 20 1774

[salute] Dear Sister

I thank you my dear Sister for all your kind offers. I have not been able yet to get
Miss Dolly Read. I expected her yesterday: but what has prevented I cant say. As to
moving, we want to see Mr. Russel before we talk again with Mr. Cleavely.1 Mr. Cranch is so hurried with Work that he does not know how to spare time to see
after any thing, and I am so unwell that I am not able too. I do not know what is
the reason but I never felt so low spirit'd in my life. I have been so long in an
uncertainty what we ought to do: and one Friend advising one way and one another that
I feel rack'd. I think I cannot bear it much { 144 } longer. I am full of aprehentions of—I dont know what. What unnumberd distresses has
Lord North brought upon thousands of Innocent Creatures. I have more charity than
to think he ever realized half of them.—What an answer the Governer has given our
congress. Some part of it gives me more fear of insults than I have had
yet I long to see the reply.—Mr. Tufts will take your cheese so you may send them
as soon as you please. I was so unwell a Teusday that I thought I had better come
home and I have a great many things to do before I move. We rejoice to hear Mr. Adams
is well and hope it will not be long before it will be convenient for him to come
home. The divine protection be his guard where ever he is, is the ardent Wish of your
affectionate sister,

1. These persons have not been identified, but “Cleavely” is probably a misspelling of
Cleverly, a common name in Braintree.

Docno: ADMS-04-01-02-0095

Author: Adams, John

Recipient: Adams, Abigail

Date: 1774-08-28

John Adams to Abigail Adams

[dateline] Prince Town New Jersey Aug. 28th. 1774

[salute] My Dr.

I received your kind Letter, at New York, and it is not easy for you to imagine the
Pleasure it has given me. I have not found a single Opportunity to write since I left
Boston, excepting by the Post and I dont choose to write by that Conveyance, for fear
of foul Play. But as We are now within forty two Miles of Philadelphia, I hope there
to find some private Hand by which I can convey this.

The Particulars of our Journey, I must reserve, to be communicated after my Return.
It would take a Volume to describe the whole. It has been upon the whole an Agreable
Jaunt, We have had Opportunities to see the World, and to form Acquaintances with
the most eminent and famous Men, in the several Colonies we have passed through. We
have been treated with unbounded Civility, Complaisance, and Respect.1

We Yesterday visited Nassau Hall Colledge, and were politely treated by the Schollars,
Tutors, Professors and President, whom We are, this Day to hear preach. Tomorrow We
reach the Theatre of Action. God Almighty grant us Wisdom and Virtue sufficient for
the high Trust that is devolved upon Us. The Spirit of the People wherever we have
been seems to be very favourable. They universally consider our Cause as their own,
and express the firmest Resolution, to abide the Determination of the Congress.

I am anxious for our perplexed, distressed Province—hope they will be directed into
the right Path. Let me intreat you, my Dear, to make yourself as easy and quiet as
possible. Resignation to the Will of Heaven is our only Resource in such dangerous
Times. Prudence and Caution should be our Guides. I have the strongest Hopes, that
We shall yet see a clearer Sky, and better Times.

Remember my tender Love to my little Nabby. Tell her she must write me a Letter and
inclose it in the next you send. I am charmed with your Amusement with our little
Johnny. Tell him I am glad to hear he is so good a Boy as to read to his Mamma, for
her Entertainment, and to keep himself out of the Company of rude Children. Tell him
I hope to hear a good Account of his Accidence and Nomenclature, when I return. Kiss
my little Charley and Tommy for me. Tell them I shall be at Home by November, but
how much sooner I know not.

Remember me to all enquiring Friends—particularly to Uncle Quincy,2 your Pappa and Family, and Dr. Tufts and Family. Mr. Thaxter, I hope, is a good Companion,
in your Solitude. Tell him, if he devotes his Soul and Body to his Books, I hope,
notwithstanding the Darkness of these Days, he will not find them unprofitable Sacrifices
in future.

I have received three very obliging Letters, from Tudor, Trumble, and Hill.3 They have cheared us, in our Wanderings, and done us much Service.

Your Account of the Rain refreshed me. I hope our Husbandry is prudently and industriously
managed. Frugality must be our Support. Our Expences, in this Journey, will be very
great—our only Reward will be the consolatory Reflection that We toil, spend our Time,
and tempt Dangers for the public Good—happy indeed, if we do any good!

The Education of our Children is never out of my Mind. Train them to Virtue, habituate
them to industry, activity, and Spirit. Make them consider every Vice, as shamefull
and unmanly: fire them with Ambition to be usefull—make them disdain to be destitute
of any usefull, or ornamental Knowledge or Accomplishment. Fix their Ambition upon
great and solid Objects, and their Contempt upon little, frivolous, and useless ones.
It is Time, my dear, for you to begin to teach them French. Every Decency, Grace,
and Honesty should be inculcated upon them.

I have [kept]5 a few Minutes by Way of Journal, which shall be your Entertainment when I come home,
but We have had so many { 146 } Persons and so various Characters to converse with, and so many Objects to view, that
I have not been able to be so particular as I could wish.—I am, with the tenderest
Affection and Concern, your wandering

[signed] John Adams

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “To Mrs. Abigail Adams Braintree Massachusetts Bay To be left at Mr.
Adams's Office in Queen Street Boston favoured by [no name given]”, endorsed: “C 1 No 1.” (In this and following endorsements on JA's letters, “C” may possibly stand for “Congress.”)

3. All recent or current clerks in JA's Boston law office. John Trumbull, the young poet and future judge, has already
been identified. Only Tudor's letter, dated 21 Aug. 1774 (Adams Papers), has been found.

William Tudor (1750–1819), Harvard 1769, had studied law with JA for three years beginning in Aug. 1769 and was then admitted to the bar; in July
1775 he was elected judge advocate of the Continental Army with the rank of lieutenant
colonel and served until 1778; he later resumed the practice of law in Boston and
held various political offices. Tudor was one of the founders of the Massachusetts
Historical Society in 1791, and some of his papers are among its collections, including
some early love letters to his wife Delia Jarvis very recently acquired; a selection
of his correspondence, including letters from JA, who was a warm friend and intimate correspondent for many years, is printed in the
best biographical sketch known to the editors, MHS, Colls., 2d ser., 8 (2d edn., 1826):285–325.

Edward Hill (1755–1775), of Boston, Harvard 1772, died so young that he is less known to history. He had
commenced clerk in JA's office in Oct. 1772 and was still engaged there at the time this letter was written.
He died of “camp fever” in March 1775. (“Suffolk Bar Book,” MHS, Procs., 1st ser., 19 [1881–1882]:151; “Letters of John Andrews,” same, 8 [1864–1865]:403;
information from Harvard Univ. Archives.)

4. Rev. Anthony Wibird (1729–1800), Harvard 1747, minister of the First or North Precinct Church in Braintree (later
Quincy) from 1754 until his death (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates, vol. 12 [in press]). In earlier years JA had been a close companion of Wibird, who is mentioned frequently in JA's Diary, not always in flattering terms.